I have a 3 year old Toshiba progressive scan dvd player hooked to my new Samsung 1080p dlp tv via component video cables. What is the maximum resolution that the dvd player can put out?

I don't get what the difference is between a regular dvd player and a progressive scan dvd player?

then there is this whole up-scaling thing to worry about..

[MagicBoy]

The output resolution of the DVD player will be 568p for R2 PAL, and 480p for R1 NTSC.

Standard PAL output is 568i - it interlaces the picture by alternately drawing the odd then the even lines in the picture. It works nicely on older CRT TVs as they draw the picture by scanning left to right from top to bottom. Flat Panel LCDs/Plasmas have frame buffer that displays the entire picture as one. Not sure on DLP to be honest. Feed an interlaced signal into a flat panel and it will internally process the input to de-interlace the picture.

Progressive scan gives more stable pictures with less jaggies.

[nwgarratt]

PAL is 576i.

[MagicBoy]

Originally Posted by nwgarratt

PAL is 576i.

Must be the after work pint that warped by fuddled old mind

so are you saying a regular dvd (i'm in the usa btw) is 480i, and my progressive scan dvd is 480p? is "p" a much better picture since it shows all the 480 lines at one time?

are there any other higher dvd outputs beside HD-DVD and Blue-ray?
like you can't get 720p or 1080i coming out of a DVD player right?

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by squale

so are you saying a regular dvd (i'm in the usa btw) is 480i, and my progressive scan dvd is 480p? is "p" a much better picture since it shows all the 480 lines at one time?

are there any other higher dvd outputs beside HD-DVD and Blue-ray?
like you can't get 720p or 1080i coming out of a DVD player right?

Progressive is usually better. On most recent equipment you can send a interlaced signal and the display (whether it is a TV, projector etc) will convert it to progressive automatically. You can then decide whether the player or the TV does the progressive.

Upscaling DVD players can upscale 480 and 576 to 720 or 1080. Also, if you send a 480/576 signal (non upscaling player) to a TV/projector that is at least 1280 x 720. It will also upscale automatically as that is the resolution of the display. The scaler can be better in the player or the display. It is up to the person to which one is used. However, it still won't be up to the standard of HD DVD or Blu Ray.

I still don't understand how upscalling works, I mean if the dvd player is only putting out 480p lines of resolution, and my tv is 1080p, then how does it turn 480 lines into 1080 lines? it can't be true 1080 lines..

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by squale

I still don't understand how upscalling works, I mean if the dvd player is only putting out 480p lines of resolution, and my tv is 1080p, then how does it turn 480 lines into 1080 lines? it can't be true 1080 lines..

It guesses where to put the lines and inserts them in. It's like when you resize a graphic or photo to make it bigger. It is kind of interpolation.

If the TV displays 1080p, then everything fed into it will be converted to that resolution otherwise, it will have black borders all around where the image doesnm't meet the edges of the screen.